Really, SF? Must we completely crush everyone with our sick concert food lineup every year at Outside Lands? Yes. The answer is yes. Especially in their tenth year! This year, there will be 78 restaurants, 40-plus wineries, 28 breweries, and 8 experiences: A Taste of the Bay Area, Wine Lands, Beer Lands, Cheese Lands, Outside Clams [LOL], Choco Lands, Cocktail Magic, and GastroMagic. This year, the festival runs August 11th-13th and a limited amount of 3-Day GA tickets are available. And then there’s A Tribe Called Quest, I mean…yeah.
This year’s curator of A Taste of the Bay Area is restaurateur Anna Weinberg, and Marlowe will be there and featuring its signature Marlowe burger. Also new to the mix: Tartine Manufactory (morning buns, croissants, and iced coffee), Smitten Ice Cream (bringing its cookie dough-pretzel ice cream), Alba Ray’s, Dabba (serving their awesome ethnic confusion tacos!), FOB Kitchen (Shanghai lumpia and sticky wings), Cheese Steak Shop, Izakaya Sozai, Little Star Pizza (Brass Monkey, baby!), Boba Guys, and Fearless Coffee (serving olive oil-fried egg sandwiches and griddled French toast).
Classics like Rich Table’s porcini doughnuts with raclette cheese, Wise Sons Jewish Deli’s pastrami cheese fries, and Azalina’s Malaysian will be there with chicken curry nachos and lamb burgers.
Of course, Dave McLean, founder and brewmaster of Magnolia Brewing Company and Alembic Bar, has put together a beer lineup of 28 breweries. Altamont Beer Works, Alvarado Street, Black Sands Brewery, Laughing Monk, and Oakland United Beerworks will join returning favorites like 21st Amendment, Almanac, Faction Brewing, and Local Brewing Company.
Wine Lands curator Peter Eastlake has added Ehren Jordan’s Failla chardonnay and pinot noir, SLO Down’s “Sexual Chocolate” red blend, Hoxie Spritzer (serving dry wine spritzers), and Japanese sake served on tap with Bushido “Way of the Warrior.” Returning faves include Scribe, Lioco, Idlewild-Ryme-Leo Steen, Wind Gap-Pax, and you can always count on me hitting up Scharffenberger’s bubbles. You’ll also notice this year there’s a special limited-edition reusable stainless steel wine cup that can be purchased. Pretend you’re camping in Golden Gate Park!
Don’t miss a visit to The Back Wine, a sip and putt mini golf area offering wines from Cannonball Wine Company. VIP ticket holders will enjoy the inaugural launch of Palm Bay International’s Rosé All the Way, with rosé wines from around the world.
Cheese Lands will have gooey Swiss raclette “nachos” and more, thanks to Thalassa Skinner of Culture magazine in partnership with Napa Valley’s Long Meadow Ranch. Outside Clams (helmed by Woodhouse Fish Co.) will have Dungeness crab rolls, raw and BBQ oysters (conveniently close to Wine Lands for optimal pairing), lobster rolls, and clam chowder bread bowls. Choco Lands will have plenty of treats for the stoners, while GastroMagic and Cocktail Magic details will be shared in coming weeks. Start planning your layered look now…at least you don’t have to have a Coachella body for this festival, ha.
Beer Lands is a happy place. Photo: Tom Tomkinson.
